Ofquack website now online

I notice that the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council  (CNHC) are now online.  At this time, the website is pretty spartan, but what is notable is not so much what is said, but what is not said. 

There's no indication that any of the named individuals are medically qualified (though they my be).  An unidentified group of people seem to run the show:

The Federal Regulatory Board (FRB), consisting of 9 lay members, is responsible for strategic direction and for ensuring that the organisation functions effectively in the public interest. Professional interest is strongly represented through membership of the Profession Specific Boards (PSBs) - one for each group of therapies being regulated. The four Functional Committees, dealing with Education & Standards; Conduct & Competence; Registration; and Finance, will consist mainly of lay experts supported by professional specific input. The Professional Advisory Panel will be another source of professional advice to the FRB.

You'll notice that the FRB is composed of unidentified lay members. There are PSBs, one for each of the "therapies" being regulate, presumably this could be a large number!  There are four Functional Committees and a Professional Advisory Panel.  So that's a lot of people managing the show and in some way regulating a bunch of ineffective treatments.

But where in all this is any regulation of effectiveness?  Will these treatments be subject to evidence-based assessment?  Of course they do say this: 

CNHC vetting procedures should ensure that consumers can access complementary or natural therapies confidently and safely. 

Does this mean that one by one the quack treatments will be shut down because they are ineffective?

No "Natural" or "Complementary" systems of healthcare are mentioned by name on the CNHC website. 

Many reports suggest that this over-staffed quango has been funded to the tune of £900,000 by central government.  It remains to be seen how effectively they will be able to control the excesses of quack practitioners. who don't at present (or even if they are accredited by CNHC) appear to need to demonstrate genuine healing competences. I await further additions to the Ofquack webpages.